Robotic surgical systems and devices are well suited for use in performing minimally invasive medical procedures as opposed to conventional techniques that require large incisions to permit the surgeon's hands access into the patient's body cavity. Advances in technology have led to significant changes in the field of medical surgery such that minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) have become increasingly popular.
As opposed to traditional open surgery, MIS may typically be performed by entering the body through the skin, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, or an anatomical opening utilizing small incisions made on the patient's body. However, such procedures (e.g., endovascular, laparoscopic, arthroscopic, coronary, etc.) require manipulation and control over a variety of devices, ranging from guidewires and microcatheters to balloons and stents.
In order to manipulate the medical instruments (e.g., a guidewire), medical professionals have traditionally used devices which allow the professional to apply a torque to a guidewire while inside the patient's body. Torqueing the guidewire allows the medical professional to change the spatial orientation of the tip of the guidewire while maneuvering the patient's anatomy, e.g., to insert or retract the guidewire, or to rotate the guidewire.
Due to the complexities of MIS procedures, for example robotically controlled endovascular procedures, manipulation and control is required over a variety of medical devices (e.g., guidewires, stents, etc.). As a result, it is often challenging to advance or retract a full variety of medical instruments required by robotic surgical systems during medical procedures. Moreover, it is difficult to continuously drive a guidewire in a discontinuous system. Specifically, once the driver carrying the guidewire reaches its physical limits or the end of its range of motion, the guidewire may need to be released and then re-gripped or clutched in order to further drive the guidewire into a patient. During such clutching, the movement of the guidewire may be temporarily restricted.
As such, there is a need for a system that may conveniently perform clutching with minimal interruptions during the medical procedure.